Dispatcher who took 911 call ending Jakubowski manhunt speaks out

VERNON COUNTY (WKOW) -- It was one phone call that led police to manhunt suspect Joseph Jakubowski.

Landowner Jeff Gorn called 911 after finding Jakubowski camping on his property.

"I'm just calling you guys to say, is there anything or is there anybody out there that, in the area, that you guys are looking for?” Gorn said during the call to the Vernon County Sheriff's Office

Gorn found Jakubowski on his property in rural Vernon County last Friday. He didn't know who Jakubowski was at first. But after making the call, he looked online and knew it was the man authorities were looking for.

Dispatcher Amanda Weaver: “Vernon county sheriff's office.”

Gorn: “Hi, Vernon County Sheriff's Office. Can I talk to you a minute?”

It was the call law enforcement had been waiting for.

"I have a man that's living in, looks like a blue tarp," Gorn said.

Dispatcher Amanda Weaver took the call.

"He just started telling me the situation that he had come across in the field. And he wanted to know if that was something we'd heard of. I knew from the second he was talking about this gentleman, that it was Jakubowski,” Weaver said.

"He was real serious about that, he's made some threats, he said he sent out 25 letters it had to do with telling the government, you know, the things that they were doing wrong, he was going to change it all. I Just, just wanted to know if you guys had anything that," Gorn said.

Weaver kept her cool during the conversation.

"I don't mean to alarm you but we are looking for somebody," Weaver said during the call with Gorn. "The hair on my arms and neck stood up on end."

Vernon County Sheriff John Spears said Weaver handled the situation like a pro.

"You'd never know that she was new at this job," Spears said.

Law enforcement in surrounding counties received hundreds of calls regarding Jakubowski. Vernon County dispatchers received just one. And Spears said that was the one that counted.

"This was the first and only tip was received on him. And it couldn't have turned out better."

“I feel as though any of the other five of us in there, there's six dispatchers total, any other one that was dispatching would have made the same decision," Weaver said.

Weaver's family has a history in law enforcement. She said her grandfather was a Vernon County Sheriff's Office investigator in the 1980s and 1990s. Her uncles were chiefs of the Viroqua and Westby Police Departments.